Sydney will consider unveiling Kurt Tippett for his season debut next week after the Swans were shocked by North Melbourne in the wet on Sunday.

Considered one of the major premiership favourites only a month ago, the Swans are languishing in the bottom third of the ladder and losing touch with the top four after North's emphatic 43-point victory at the SCG.

The Swans' forward line was rendered near impotent by a committed North side which set up an extra number in defence to great advantage.

Tippett had been in line to return via the seconds on Sunday but the Swans match committee decided to leave the star recruit out to give him the chance for another full week on the track.

Having yet to play a competitive game, Tippett will be short of match practice if he returns next week but the Swans are buoyed by his form last season. After missing the first half of the season due to suspension, Tippett kicked 35 goals in 12 games off a limited preparation.

"It depends on how he trains this week," Longmire said of Tippett's chances of a recall against Fremantle next week.

Advertisement

"He's played on a low preparation before, we saw that last year. He can come in and contribute if need be but that decision will be made in conjunction with the medicos. We won't put him in a situation where he will be risked.

"That decision will be made on what's best for him to make sure he plays his best football when he gets a game of senior football, and what's best for the injury he's managing. It can't be made just because of our loss today."

Longmire bemoaned the inconsistency of the Swans, who won well last week, and said some of their mistakes against North were close to schoolboy errors.

"I'm not going to categorise it [the loss], it was a bad performance, we didn't play well," Longmire said.

"It was across the board. We were scored against too easily. Just the basics, the amount of times the ball slipped over the back in those conditions.

"It's one of those things you learn as a kid coming through - don't let the ball over the back in wet conditions. And we let the ball over the back too many times, we were scored against too easily, so it was a combination of that as well as the front half we need to look at.

"The energy we showed in the midfield was variable at times, and it can't be variable, it has to be constant."

North coach Brad Scott described the Kangaroos' first win over the Swans in seven years as a "pretty complete performance against an opposition that we clearly have enormous respect for, for obvious reasons".

"They have taken great joy in beating us over a long period of time," Scott said.

"Even well before my time, Sydney have had the wood over us so it is a pretty important win away from home."